There are many things which contribute to the development of heart disease and problems such as a heart attack. Some factors that have been implicated include:
As well as these there are genetic factors. This is a variable over which we have no control. If you do have a family history of heart disease this does not necessarily mean that you will develop heart disease yourself. There are many factors, besides genetics, that go into the development of heart disease. It is these factors that can be changed and thereby reduce your risk of developing heart disease. One area where you are able to bring about change is your blood pressure.
It has been found that the traditional indicators of heart disease such as smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure account for about 50% of heart attacks. In trying to account for the rest the focus has moved to psychosocial factors - personality and behavior which give rise to stress hormones. Chronic stress, Type A personality, anger, depression and social isolation not only have a direct negative effect on the cardiovascular system but they also increase the effects of other cardiac factors. This article looks at two of these factors - depression and anger.
Think about your heart this way, it’s like a big pump, and a big pump needs big amounts oxygen and nutrients. It needs large quantities of both in order to survive. It has to get its oxygen and nutrients from your blood because it doesn’t have a direct link to your lungs. When your arteries get clogged (as they do with our poor western diet) they also get narrowed. This narrowing restricts the flow of blood through the passageways which are the arteries. So if the flow is restricted then the amount of oxygen is reduced and the heart has to pump harder to get the oxygen it needs. It has to work very hard indeed. |